subs. (common).—1. A month: specifically (thieves’) a term of imprisonment, e.g., ONE, TWO, or THREE MOONS; LONG MOON = a calendar month or CALLINGDER. See DRAG.
1823. COOPER, The Pilot, iv. If you wait, sir, till the land-breeze fills your sails, you will wait another MOON, I believe.
1830. W. T. MONCRIEFF, The Heart of London, ii. 1. Mr. S.—Excuse my freedom but his modesty wouldn’t permit him to tell you himself—he’s been working on the mace—doing it up very blue, and so they’ve lumbered him for a few MOONS, that’s all.
1848. RUXTON, Life in the Far West, 22. They would return to their village, and spend a MOON relating their achievements.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. MOON. One month; thirty days’ imprisonment.
1879. J. W. HORSLEY, ‘Autobiography of a Thief,’ in Macmillan’s Magazine, XL., 501. I went on all straight the first few MOONS (months) at costering.
1893. P. H. EMERSON, Signor Lippo, 48. The quilts have to be changed once a MOON.
2. (American).—A large, round biscuit.
1883. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, 460. I spent my last ten cents for two MOONS and cheese.
3. (old).—A wig. Also HALF-MOON.
1608. MIDDLETON, A Mad World, my Masters, iii. 3. To wear HALF-MOONS made of another’s hair.
1663. KILLIGREW, The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5 [DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), 4th ed., 1875, xiv., p. 456]. Score a quart of sack in the HALF-MOON? [NOTE, i.e., put a quart of sack into your head at my expense.]
Verb. (colloquial).—To wander or lounge as in a dream.
1856. YONGE, The Daisy Chain, XXI. ‘There! that bet is lost!’ exclaimed Larkins. ‘I laid Hill half-a-crown that you would not see me when you were MOONING over your verses!’
1863. C. READE, Hard Cash, i. 39. The silence continued till it was broken by—a fish out of water. An undergraduate in spectacles came MOONING along, all out of his element.
1871. Standard, 14 April. ‘Italy.’ The press in vain raised its voice against this tomfoolery, which gives us an excuse for indulgence in our favourite occupation of MOONING at street corners, and of losing as much time as we can.
1871. London Figaro, 6 March. ‘French Refugees in London.’ Some of the Frenchmen still look wretched. The other day I saw two of them in blouses, mopingly MOONING along Broad-street.
1873. W. BLACK, A Princess of Thule, xxvii. Spend their time in MOONING up in that island of theirs.
1877. BESANT and RICE, The Golden Butterfly, xvi. I might have MOONED away the afternoon in the Park and dined at the club.
1884. W. C. RUSSELL, Jack’s Courtship, xiii. All this hoping and moping and MOONING has made your heart too battered a thing to offer to the next peerless creature ye may happen to light on.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xli. Well, I kept dark, you be sure, and MOONED about.
1889. MARGARET OLIPHANT, A Poor Gentleman, xliv. He went MOONING along with his head down in dull and hopeless despondency.
TO MAKE BELIEVE THE MOON IS MADE OF GREEN CHEESE, verb. phr. (common).—To hoax.
1562–3. Jack Juggler [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, ii. 154].
| TO BELIEVE AND SAY THE MOON IS MADE OF A GREEN CHEESE | |
| Or else have great harm, and percase their life lese. |
1640. Wit’s Recreations [HOTTEN], 114.
| The way to make a Welch-man thirst for blisse, | |
| And daily say his prayers on his knees, | |
| Is, to perswade him, that most certain ’tis, | |
| The MOON IS MADE OF nothing but GREEN CHEESE. |
1670. RAY, Proverbs [BOHN (1893), 171]. Tell me the MOON’S MADE OF GREEN CHEESE.
1846. T. MILDENHALL, Sister and I! sc. ii. Aye, you’d better ASK WHY THE MOON IS MADE OF GREEN CHEESE?
A BLUE MOON, subs. phr. (common).—An indefinite time; never; GREEK KALENDS (q.v.); TIB’S EYE (q.v.).
1528. ROY and BARLOW, Rede me and be nott wrothe, 114 [ed. ARBER, 1871].
| Yf they saye the MONE IS BELEWE, | |
| We must beleve that it is true, | |
| Admittynge their interpretacion. |
1876. B. H. BUXTON, Jennie of the Prince’s, ii. 140. ‘Does he often come of an evening?’ asks Jennie. ‘Oh, just once in a BLUE MOON, and then always with his ‘mamma’.’
MINIONS OF THE MOON. See MOONMAN.
MAN IN THE MOON. See MAN.
TO SHOOT (or BOLT) THE MOON, verb. phr. (general).—To clear a house by night to evade distraint or payment of rent; TO DO A MOONLIGHT flitting. Hence MOONSHOOTERS.
1825. The Universal Songster, i. 70, ‘Bolting the Moon.’ She wish’d to gammon her landlord, and likewise BOLT THE MOON.
1842. The Comic Almanack, 18 June. Now prepare for LUNAR SHOOTING, and hunt out Huntley’s vans. Convert your intimate friends after dark into light porters of household furniture.
1885. The Sporting Times, 23 May. ‘The Chorister’s Promise.’
| The landlady woke next day at noon, | |
| And was thinking of getting her rent full soon, | |
| When she found that her lodger had SHOT THE MOON | |
| And gone with the chips she owed. |
1891. Morning Advertiser, 27 March. It was proved that the goods were removed after eleven o’clock on the nights of the 2nd and 3rd of March—a process described as SHOOTING THE MOON.
1892. Globe, 2 April, p. 1, c. 5. The MOON-SHOOTERS sometimes have lodgers in their abodes. Not always do they think it worth while to inform them of their intended journeying, and this may be awkward for the lodger. Ibid. Who shall say that our popular phraseology is not occasionally picturesque when we describe the flight of impecunious tenants as SHOOTING THE MOON, or ‘a midnight flit?’
TO CRY FOR THE MOON, verb. phr. (common).—To crave for the impossible. Fr. Vouloir prendre la lune avec les dents.
TO CAST BEYOND THE MOON, verb. phr. (common).—To make extravagant conjectures.
1606. Wily Beguiled [HAWKINS, The Origin of the English Drama, iii. 329]. Why master Gripe, he CASTS BEYOND THE MOON.
TO LEVEL AT THE MOON, verb. phr. (common).—To be very ambitious.
TO FIND AN ELEPHANT IN THE MOON, verb. phr. (old).—To find a mare’s nest. [Sir Paul Neal, a seventeenth century virtuoso, gave out that he had discovered an elephant in the moon. It turned out that a mouse had crept into his telescope. See BUTLER, The Elephant in the Moon].
